The present invention relates to low rider wheel jacks, and more particularly to a jack adapted to engage and lift a vehicle where its body is positioned particularly close to the ground (called a “low rider” herein) such that standard vehicle jacks (called “traditional jacks” herein) cannot be used . . . since there is insufficient room for the traditional jacks to slip under the vehicle before the vehicle is lifted.
“Low riders” are extremely popular vehicles that are characteristically constructed (or modified) to have extremely low ground clearance. It is not uncommon for the body of low riders to have a ground clearance of 1 to 2 inches (or less). In addition to low ground clearance itself, the sheet metal and ground effects of low riders further makes lifting difficult, both due to less clearance but also due to owner's high sensitivity to component damage, deformation, and/or surface abrasion. This creates a problem in that traditional jacks cannot be used since there is insufficient clearance under the vehicle to receive the jack, particularly when the traditional jack lift points on the vehicle's frame are spaced well under the vehicle body's footprint (i.e. the sheet metal's outer edge). Many vehicle service providers refuse to service low rider vehicles due to the difficulty in lifting them, since traditional lifts and jacks often cannot be used, requiring that unusual procedures must be used in order to lift the low rider and do service work.
Many owners of low riders do their own service work, since they love to work on their vehicles, but also since many service providers won't. Many owners of low riders attempt to solve this lifting problem by building ramps that, when driven up, will raise a front (or rear) of the low rider sufficiently so that a traditional jack can be used. Other owners of low riders attempt to solve this “lifting” problem by digging shallow depressions shaped to receive a traditional jack, so that a top of the jack is sufficiently low to allow clearance for a low rider. However, the ramps and pits are often poorly constructed, not well thought out and/or are often “jury rigged,” and/or they often require a two-step process where extraordinary care must be used to avoid potential injury or damage to the vehicle. When an appropriate amount of extraordinary care is not used, there is a potentially unsafe condition. The problem is so bad that some low rider owners will remove parts of their vehicle in order to lift their vehicle in order to use a traditional jack. For example, low rider owners have been known to remove front end fascia and sheet metal, ground effect trim, and other vehicle body components to allow jack-lifting their vehicle without damaging a component of the lower rider.
Some jacks have been constructed to have a wheeled frame with a pivoted arm where a free end of the arm can be extended under a stock vehicle, engaged with a lift point on the vehicle frame, and lifted. However, as noted above, many (if not most) low riders have too low of ground clearance to receive the free end of the arm. Further, when the arm is lifted, the axis of rotation is at an outboard pivoted end of the arm (i.e. pivoted at a location opposite the free end), which causes the free end to swing (i.e. move) in an outward arc away from the vehicle. Specifically, as the arm is lifted to higher levels, the free end of the arm moves increasingly outward. This causes a stressed condition where the horizontal movement of the free end pulls against the friction provided by the tires, causing a shear force that will cause the free end to unexpectedly slip on the vehicle's lift point. When this occurs, this “slipping” movement is unexpected, and potentially can cause the vehicle to slip off the jack, thus causing an unsafe condition for the worker and potentially causing damage to the vehicle.